January 28, 1933 – The name “Pakstan” is coined, which soon is changed to “Pakistan” to embody the name of a proposed new Muslim state
On January 28, 1933, Indian Muslim nationalist Choudhry Rahmat Ali wrote a pamphlet titled “Now or Never; Are We to Live or Perish Forever?” (later known as the “Pakistan Declaration”), where he proposed “Pakstan” (without the “i”) as the name of a new Indian Muslim nation. Part of the pamphlet’s opening line described it thus, “…our thirty million Muslim brethren who live in PAKSTAN—by which we mean the five Northern units of India, Viz: Punjab, North-West Frontier Province (Afghan Province), Kashmir, Sind and Baluchistan.”
“Pakstan” was soon changed to “Pakistan” to ease pronunciation; Indian Muslim nationalists welcomed the name, which quickly grew in popularity to embody the name of a new independent Muslim state.
Partition of the Indian subcontinent.(Taken from Partition of India – Wars of the 20th Century – Volume 3)
At the end of World War II, Britainwas reeling in heavy debt and was facing economic ruin. The British government was hard pressed tocontinue financing the many British overseas colonial administrations in itsvast territories around the world. Britaintherefore adopted a foreign policy of decolonization, that is, the Britishwould end colonial rule and grant independence to the colonies. Britain’s decision to decolonizealso was influenced by the rise of nationalism among colonized peoples, aphenomenon that occurred in British, as well as other European colonies aroundthe world.
In the Indian subcontinent (Map 12), which was Britain’sprized possession since the 1800s, a strong nationalist sentiment had existedfor many decades and had led to the emergence of many political organizationsthat demanded varying levels of autonomy and self-rule. Other Indian nationalist movements alsocalled for the British to leave immediately. Nationalist aspirations were concentrated in areas with direct Britishrule, as there also existed across the Indian subcontinent hundreds ofsemi-autonomous regions which the British called “Princely States”, whoserulers held local authority with treaties or alliances made with the Britishgovernment. The Princely States,however, had relinquished their foreign policy initiatives to the British inexchange for British military protection against foreign attacks. Thus, the British de facto ruled over thePrincely States.
For so long, the Indian nationalist movement perceived theBritish presence as impinging on the Indians’ right to sovereignty. Ultimately, however, India’sreligious demographics – the divide between the majority Hindu Indians and theminority Muslim Indian sectors of the population – would be the major obstacleto independence. Hindus constituted 253million people, or 72% of the population, while Muslims, at 92 million, made up26% of the population. Sikhs, who wereconcentrated in Punjab Province, totaled about 2million, or 6% of the population.
In the first few decades of the twentieth century, Hindusand Muslims were united in their common opposition to British rule. By the mid-1930s, the British had allowednative participation in politics and government, hinting at India’slikelihood of gaining independence. Muslim Indians now became concerned, since an independent India meantthat Hindus, because of their sheer number, would have a perennial held onpower. To the Muslims, this would mean apermanent Hindu-dominated Indiawhere Muslim interests possibly would not be met.
Muslims, therefore, proposed to carve out a separate Muslimstate, which would be called “Pakistan”and would consist of regions that contained a majority Muslim population. However, such a proposal, which emerged inthe 1930s, was considered too radical even for most Muslims, since the idea ofa divided Indiawas inconceivable. Most politicians fromthe two sides were intent on trying to work out a power-sharing arrangement atall levels of government, much like the local autonomous governments, which by nowhad come into existence and were run jointly by Muslims and Hindus.
By 1940, however, Muslim Indians were advocating the“Two-Nation Principle”, that is, since Hindus and Muslims belonged to differentreligions, they also differed in nationality, even if they shared a commonethnicity, culture, and language. Eventhen, most Muslim leaders only used the Two-Nation Principle as a means to gaingreater political concessions in their support for an undivided India. Hindus were intractably opposed to partitioningIndia.
In May 1946, the British central government in London sent to Indiaa delegation called the “Cabinet Mission” with the task of finalizing theprocess of granting India’sindependence and to transfer all governmental functions from the colonialadministration to a new Indian government consisting of Hindus andMuslims. Britainenvisioned an undivided India,and the Cabinet Mission therefore was instructed to work out a power-sharinggovernment for Muslims and Hindus.
In June 1946, the Cabinet Mission presented a plan for anIndian federated state made up of separate, autonomous Hindu-majority andMuslim-majority provinces under a decentralized national government. Muslim political leaders accepted the plan,reasoning that the decentralized scheme met their demands for self-rule. However, Hindu leaders rejected the plan,arguing that it essentially partitioned India into many smaller states.
Hindu leaders then proposed to amend the plan into one thatincluded a strong centralized government. Muslim leaders were infuriated and walked out of the proceedings, andsubsequently withdrew their support for the Cabinet Mission. They then called on Muslims to hold civilactions. Across India, Muslimscarried out mass protests and demonstrations, which generally ended withoutincident. However, in Calcutta on August 16, 1946, an initiallypeaceful assembly turned violent when armed bands of Muslims and Hindus went ona rampage, and for three days, carried out widespread violence anddestruction. When British troops finallyarrived and restored order, over 5,000 persons had been killed, 10,000 wounded,and tens of thousands left homeless. Themajority of the victims were Muslims.
In October 1946, Muslim farmers in Noakhali and Tripuraattacked their Hindu landowners, and killed 5,000 persons and forced manythousands of civilians to flee from the region. In reprisal, in Bihar, Bengal Province, Hindu armedbands attacked Muslim villages and killed thousands of civilians. From late 1946 to early 1947, violence tookplace in the Punjab and the North West Frontier Province, where Muslim armed groupsroamed the countryside and targeted Sikhs and Hindus with murders, abductions,and rapes. Some Sikhs killed their ownwives and daughters to prevent them from falling victim to the attacks. Sikh armed groups also carried outretaliatory attacks against Muslim settlements.
For Hindu and Muslim leaders, the widespread violence endedall hope for an undivided India. Even the most optimistic Hindus became resignedto partition. In February 1947, theBritish announced that they would leave India no later than June 1948. As a result of the widespread violence,Archibald Wavell, the British Governor-General of India, was dismissed. Lord Louis Mountbatten succeeded as the newGovernor-General and was given brief instructions: quickly grant India itsindependence, and then leave. Upon hisarrival, Lord Mountbatten saw that partition was the only solution for India, as theHindu-Muslim coalition government was breaking apart and the sectarian violencewas threatening to erupt into a civil war. Negotiations for partition soon began.
On June 3, 1947, Hindu and Muslim leaders reached anagreement in principle to carry out a partition of the subcontinent. Lord Mountbatten then announced that onAugust 15, 1947, a date just over three months away, the colonial governmentwould cease to function and that, by that time, all governmental functionsalready would have been fully turned over to Hindus and Muslims under the twonew countries of India and Pakistan,respectively. Lord Mountbatten reasonedthat moving back the date of the British departure from the earlier announcedJune 1948 to August 1947 was to prove that Britainwas sincere in granting Indiaits independence and to dismiss accusations that the British were stalling theprocess.
Lord Mountbatten also settled the fates of the PrincelyStates, which accounted for about one-third of the area of the Indiansubcontinent. In a plenary meeting withthe heads of the Princely States in July 1947, the Governor-General offeredthem two options: to be incorporated politically and geographically into eitherIndia or Pakistan, or torevert to their pre-colonial status as independent political entities. Lord Mountbatten, however, cautioned thePrincely States against taking the second option, saying that they risked beingoverwhelmed by their two new giant neighbors, Indiaand Pakistan.
